Another personal care home under state scrutiny

The troubled personal care home I wrote about Sunday, Emeritus at Allentown, isn't the only one in the Lehigh Valley that's under scrutiny from the state.

Moravian King's Daughters' Home in Bethlehem also isn't qualified for a regular operating license, the Department of Public Welfare determined this spring. It cited problems including insufficient staffing, lack of staff training and poor fire safety procedures.

The home, like Emeritus at Allentown, remains open but is operating on its second provisional license.

The home's administrator did not return my calls this week.

Personal care homes often are referred to as assisted living or retirement homes. They are for people who do not need nursing home or medical care but need help eating, bathing, walking or carrying out daily tasks, such as taking medication, shopping and doing laundry. The homes do not have to employ medical staff.

The Moravian King's Daughters' Home is a small home. Located on West Market Street, it is licensed for 16 residents.

It did not appeal the state's licensing decision and has taken steps to correct the problems, said Anne Bale, deputy press secretary for the Department of Public Welfare. She told me the home is being monitored to ensure residents are safe.

The home first was placed on a provisional license in November after a state inspection found it had not given medication to a resident as prescribed; did not have medication available for another resident; had not developed a staff training plan for 2012; had not inspected its furnace annually and had combustible material next to the furnace; and had not conducted fire drills properly.

The state issues provisional licenses to warn personal care homes that they must improve. After four consecutive provisional licenses, a home must reach full compliance or its license will not be renewed and it will not be able to operate.

The Moravian King's Daughters' Home was issued a second provisional license in May after an inspection in March found some previous violations had not been corrected and new violations had occurred.

A second provisional license does not mean the situation at a home has worsened, but it means the home has not improved to the point where it can be taken off provisional status.

According to the inspection report, violations found in March included not having adequate overnight staff to meet residents' needs during an emergency.

The home routinely scheduled only one person to work from midnight to 8 a.m., yet two residents required "full physical assistance" to evacuate, the report said. In its correction plan, the home responded that it would add staff.

Those two residents sometimes were told in advance when there would be a fire drill and were told to remain in their room during the drill, according to the report.

The home said in its correction plan that it would evacuate the residents during fire drills and would assign the medication technician and cook to assist them. The state said that plan was insufficient because it didn't account for times when a medication technician or cook were not present or were engaged in other duties in the event of an emergency.

The state also cited the home for failing to note those residents' mobility limitations on their records. The Moravian King's Daughters' Home reassessed them to note their limitations, according to the report. The state has required the home to review all of its residents' needs.

The state also questioned why the medical evaluation for one resident indicated she required "secure dementia care," as the Moravian King's Daughters' Home does not have a secured dementia unit. The home said her new physician later qualified her as eligible to live in a personal care home.

At the time of the March inspection, the state said, the home did not have any employees with required annual medication training, "and therefore does not have any staff qualified to administer medications, including insulin, to residents."

The home later provided the training, according to its correction plan.

The home's second provisional license expires in November and the home will be re-inspected before then.

In addition to Moravian King's Daughters' Home and Emeritus at Allentown, one other personal care home in Lehigh and Northampton counties has received multiple provisional licenses since 2010, according to Department of Public Welfare annual reports.

Victorian Hill Assisted Living Home in Slatington was issued a third provisional license in 2010. The home closed that year, citing economic reasons, Bale said.